t natural and social, as well as ethical laws, which the wisdom of
God has ordained.

It remains therefore, that, for a period of which no man can see the
end, the slaves must, in most cases, dwell within the present
boundaries; but it is incumbent on the citizens and legislators of the
South to institute _immediate_ measures for restoring to them the
inviolable rights of men. So long as they continue, by the _necessities_
of the case, in the relation of servants and laborers, masters should
deal with them according to the rules of humane and Christian equity,
paying to them in suitable ways their just earnings, holding sacred
their family ties, and securing to them the privileges of education and
religion. Meanwhile, the legislatures of the several States, by wise
enactments, should cooeperate with masters in training their servile
population for the position which the Creator designed for men.

When these things shall come to pass, a consideration, in which many
good men have sought relief in regard to slavery, will have multiplied
force. The providential wisdom of God, in bringing millions of the
children of Africa from a land of pagan darkness and violence to a land
of freedom and Christianity, will shine with new lustre, when they shall
receive from American hands, together with true religion, every divine
right, and shall thus be qualified and enabled to convey to the dark
habitations of their fathers the infinite blessings of enlightened
liberty and of the gospel of eternal salvation.

These things are practicable. So long as "righteousness exalteth a
nation," a great, free, and Christian people can do what they should do;
and thus only can they secure, under the divine blessing, their own
highest prosperity and glory. To prove this would be simply to repeat
the familiar facts which exhibit the legitimate effects of slavery on
general intelligence, enterprise, and virtue.

But what shall produce the true and wide spread public sentiment, which
is indispensable to usher in so radical a change in the laws and
institutions of proud and powerful States? Truth must accomplish this
great work--THE TRUTH that our Creator does not place those who bear his
image in bondage to their fellow men as property, but invests them with
a common and inviolable right of dominion over inferior things. The
vivid light which this truth sheds on the social relations of men has
been extinguished at the South; and it has been dimmed at